I am a domestic goddess!

Don't let Kyle or my 4-year-old neighbor, Payton, tell you any different! Yes, I am storing up food for the winter. Last fall I canned tomatoes with my grandma (and loved it!) and this year I've canned peaches and frozen away corn and blueberries. Still to come this fall will be more tomatoes and applesauce.
My neighbor, Carol, cans just about anything she can pick. I was hanging out in their garage one evening and smelled the fabulous smell of bushels of peaches ripening. She and I started talking about canning and I decided I'd like to try it. A few days later she and I--along with two of her kids and her niece, Ashlyn and Maguire--went peach picking at a local orchard. I took home a whole bushel for less than $20! Then, the following weekend Carol and I spent almost an entire Saturday canning my peaches. So sweet of her to take that much time to teach me how to do it and let me use her canner. I ended up with 8 quart jars of peaches and 8 jars of jam. Mmmm! Of course, before canning them, I used some of the fresh peaches and made the most delicious fresh peach pie I've ever tasted...if I do say so myself ;) I can't wait to make another one!
Kyle claimed he didn't like peaches, but while feeding some to Maguire (who goes crazy for them!), he decided to be a "big boy" and try one...which led to another...which led to another. Guess he likes them! He's growing up ;)

At the orchard, playing in the crates and with the huge tractor tires

Maguire, Kayla, Payton, Heidi and Carol pickin' peaches

Maguire took his job very seriously! Nevermind that most of the peaches he "picked" were off the ground!

Child of the corn! The orchard had a little corn maze that Kayla and Heidi (the best neighbors/babysitters!) took the kids through.

The giant chair!

A cute little horse made of scrap wood--Carol, Maguire, Payton, Ashlyn, Heidi, Kayla

Today, while I was taking Ashlyn and Payton (Carol is Payton's aunt and she watches her while Payton's mom is at work. Carol and her family lives next door to us and Payton and her family live across the street from Carol. The dads are brothers.) to and from preschool, Carol went pear, plum and corn picking. She asked if I wanted any. I don't care for canned pears (too mushy!) and had no idea what I'd do with a bunch of plums, but I said I'd take some corn. She told me how to freeze it--cook as usual on the cob, cut the corn off the cob and stuff it in ziploc freezer bags. So simple! She asked if I wanted a bushel or half bushel. I said half. Good thing! A half bushel is 30 ears of corn, and all for just $6! We had some corn for lunch, then I gave a few ears to Kyle's uncle who came over tonight. When I cooked/bagged it all, I had 7 quart bags full to freeze!
I've always loved when Carol brings me a meal (for having a baby, because they have "extra", or whatever reason) because it usually includes her homemade applesauce. I'm not a huge fan of store bought applesauce--it's a texture thing for me. But homemade chunky applesauce is SO good! Well, this fall we're going to pick our own apples and then I'll spend another day with Carol making applesauce! So looking forward to it :)
I never thought I'd be a "canner", but it feels so good to have the finished product to show for your work. Not to mention the FRESH frozen/canned fruits/veggies we'll be able to eat throughout the winter! It's a lot of work, but I enjoy the process and enjoy spending the time with Carol, and with my grandma when we do tomatoes. That time is just as precious to me as the actual jars I end up with.
***Oh yeah, the reason I mentioned my neighbor Payton in the beginning is because of some things she said to me a week ago while at our house. She walked in, looked around at my "lived in" house and said, "This place is a mess!" Then she proceeded to point out things that were out and should've been put away! Now, I don't claim to be some master housekeeper--of wait, I did just claim to be a domestic goddess, crap--but next to Lisa, Payton's mom, I look like Peanuts' Pigpen!***

My Baby is a Preschooler!

First of all, who STOLE the last 3+ years from me?! When did my baby girl all of a sudden become old enough to go to preschool?? Doesn't she look so old? Ashlyn's first day of preschool was today. She was so excited! Anyone who knows Ashlyn knows that she's our super-sleeper. Kyle and I have been wondering for months how it was going to work out having to wake her up for school. We needn't have worried! Our plan was to wake her up this morning at 8:15, but she woke up at 7:45...singing in her bed! She greeted me with a huge smile and a squeal :) So by the time we were going to wake her up, she was up, dressed and ready to go! {So why did we still leave 5 minutes later than we had wanted to?? Oh yeah...that's just how we roll!}

When I went outside to take Ashlyn's official "first day of school" picture, we noticed that her best friend, Elizabeth was out with her mom (Kristi) getting her picture taken too. Here they are running to greet each other.

Think they're excited??

After showing each other their backpacks and ponytails...and getting a few more pictures taken together, they were off and running! They ran back over to Elizabeth's porch, then to our porch, then to Elizabeth's porch...you get the idea.

After trying to keep up with them for a while Maguire said, "Forget it! I'm just gonna stay here with this ball!"
Then...off we went! The Neeleys in their van, our other neighbors in their van, and us...5 minutes later...in our van.

When the girls saw each other in the parking lot of the church/preschool you'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in weeks! We thought they were going to knock each other over as they collided in a hug. We've seen that running/hug thing end badly way too many times...

Ashlyn, Elizabeth, and Payton (Payton is our other neighbor who is one year older than Ashlyn--they even have the same birthday!)

Another hug inside. Again, do you think they're excited?! Kyle doing a great job videotaping!

Elizabeth, Ash and their teacher, Mrs. Stoufer. Last week Mrs. Stoufer visited each of the 10 students' homes to spend a little time with the kids. She brought a story, Ashlyn's folder with stickers to decorate it, and some homework! Ashlyn had to color a cutout of a girl and answer on the back what her favorite color/food/toy/show/movie is. First thing Ashlyn did when she got into the classroom was to start a load of "laundry" in the Fisher-Price washing machine! (???) Then she quickly ran over to Mrs. Stoufer to show off her glittery cutout :)

We attempted to get a partial-family shot before we left (Maguire had already made himself at home playing with some cars...I'm sure he wished we would've forgotten him!). Ashlyn wasn't thrilled that we interrupted her for this pic! And I'm not thrilled with the oh-so-flattering angle of the picture--haha!

The goodbye process for us was pretty uneventful. Ashlyn barely noticed that we were leaving. When I went to say goodbye to her, she ignored me and ran over to her teacher squealing, "We're gonna have a TEA PARTY!" So Kyle, Maguire and I just left. The process was a little more difficult for poor Elizabeth. She cried when Brian and Kristi left. Then, about an hour and a half into it, she was still crying and had worked herself up enough that she threw up. Kristi came and got her. Ash said she tried to tell Elizabeth that it was going to be ok, but Elizabeth said, "I don't want you to say that to me!" I know how she feels...when you're feeling bummed out sometimes you just don't want anyone but your mommy!

Ashlyn was SO hyper after I picked her up! Running, dancing, singing, squealing (where did this squealy girlie girl come from??) all over the kitchen as I made lunch. I'm pretty sure she's excited to go back on Wednesday!

I'm A Finalist!!!

I'm so excited and incredibly honored! Etsy is hosting a Handmade Kids challenge/contest with seven categories. I entered this set of blocks into the Kids Home Decor category and then sort of forgot about it. They've just announced the 40 finalists for each category and my FAM friend Melanie was sweet enough to let me know that I am a finalist! I'm still in a bit of shock that my blocks were chosen. So, for the next 2 weeks, registered Etsy members can vote once in each of the seven categories. I would LOVE your votes! If you're not a registered member, you can easily register for free at etsy.com. Here is the link for my category: http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?room_id=16

The winners in each category win a $200 etsy shopping spree and everyone who votes in the contest is entered to win one of 14 $350 etsy shopping sprees! Great prizes to be sure!

Family time at the cottage

Last week Kyle's brother, Chad, and his family (Courtney, Luke, AnnaMay) came up from Oklahoma and rented a cottage in Holland. Since it was an hour drive for us, the kids and I stayed out there most of the week. Kyle was there for a few days, but had to travel to Chicago and Minneapolis for business. It was so much fun (a little chaotic at times because of the nine kids--the oldest being 9!) to spend that much time with family!

Our best attempt at a family picture--not an easy feat with this many people and 9 kids! Each family wore a different color. Green - Jim and Judy (Kyle's parents); Brown - Chris, Heather (Kyle's sister), Skydra (baby), Stone, Olivia, Eliani and Blaze; Blue - us; Orange - Chad (Kyle's brother), Courtney, Luke and AnnaMay

Sunday afternoon on the beach. It was freezing! Don't you love how you can see Chad and Heather all bundled up in the background, Kyle and Maguire in long sleeves...and then there's Ashlyn in her undies! She had gotten her clothes wet when she jumped in the water (following her crazy "twin" cousin Blaze no doubt!) and I had brought a sweatshirt for her to wear, but she wouldn't have it. Where in the world does this girl come from?! I was wearing a tank top, long sleeved shirt and hooded sweatshirt with jeans and was one huge goosebump! Good thing the rest of the week was much warmer...

AnnyMay and Ashlyn checking out baby Skydra

The three sisters...in law :) Jim & Judy offered to watch all the grandkids Thursday night so we adults could go out together. We had SO much fun! I don't think we've ever all hung out without the kids, unless it was just around the house after the kids were in bed. Unfortunately it still wasn't ALL of us because Kyle wasn't there, but we had plenty of fun without him ;)

There's this new super modern hotel/restaurant in downtown Holland where we went for dessert (after a great dinner at BoatWorks on the lake). The restaurant has a terrace where you can eat overlooking downtown. We thought we missed it, but I think we caught a pretty gorgeous sunset! Thanks a TON, J & J for allowing us to go out together!

Back in the saddle again

Yesterday, almost exactly 2 weeks after Ashlyn's near-drowning experience, we took her back to Brittany's parents' pool to get her "back on the horse". It was an almost identical situation to her last positive experience. We had Nate, Brittany, Maguire, me, and Kyle (last time my dad was there but Kyle wasn't). Turns out I was way more nervous than I needed to be. Check out the form on that girl's leap into the pool! She did amazingly well in the pool and just couldn't get enough. Maguire even did better in the pool this time too. He "graduated" to jumping into the pool over and over again and would let us swing him around and swim with him in the shallow end. It really was so much fun!

Bathing Beauty
Tubergen's had an enormous jar of pistachios sitting out and Ash kept asking us to crack them open for her. Who knew pistachios would be such a hit??

A much better water experience for us to remember!

Thanks, Aunt Brittany, for being our photographer! We love you!

My two water-lovin' babies!

Baby Leah!

*****I know I was WAY behind on posting before Ashlyn's "incident". I'll do my best to catch up in the next few days!*****

Sunday morning our friend and neighbor, Kristi (Ashlyn's good friend, Elizabeth's mom), had her beautiful baby girl, Leah Claire! She was scheduled for a c-section on August 7, so it was a pleasant surprise to meet Leah this week. She was 6lbs 12oz and 18" long--such a little doll! Kyle, Ashlyn, Maguire and I, along with our other neighbor Richelle and her 11-week-old Thane, went to visit them Monday evening. Ashlyn could NOT wait to meet and hold Baby Leah! She looks totally different than Elizabeth, which is kind of fun :) Elizabeth is light-skinned, blond-haired and blue-eyed. Leah is darker-skinned, has a little bit of darker hair and the eyes remain to be seen. People might end up thinking that Ash & Leah are sisters and Mac & Elizabeth are brother and sister--LOL!

Such tiny fingers!

Ashlyn was in heaven holding Leah! She told me she wanted to hold her "5 times" ??? :)

Some of the neighborhood girls - Richelle, Kristi & Leah, me & Ash

Maguire ventured over to see Leah once (to take the bow out of her hair!), but mostly stuck by his buddy Brian (Leah's dad), Kyle and Baby Thane.

Poor Brian had strep throat. Talk about the worst luck--when Elizabeth was born he had pink eye and couldn't hold her. Luckily Brian was able to go on antibiotics and was fine within 24 hours. But what a gyp! Oh well...we know he'll more than make up for it in the weeks to come!

We're getting there...

...back to "normal" life, that is. I'm probably struggling with it more that Ashlyn is. She remembers what happened and talks about it fairly often. We've been trying NOT to talk about it around her; trying to help her memories of the incident fade. The interesting thing is that when she talks about it, it's just so matter of fact. She recounts the day: we went swimming, I went "under the pool", I can't talk in the water, I was scared, Daddy was dinkin' around (Kyle, when apologizing to her after she started breathing/talking again, said he was sorry he was dinking around while he was supposed to be watching her). I think she's remembering it and talking about it in a pretty healthy way...I hope. The only "side effect" seems to be that she's slightly more clingy than usual. The mental pictures are fading for me. Part of me is grateful that they're fading and wants to forget it ever happened, but another part of me doesn't ever want to forget! For now, I'm giving her as many hugs and kisses as she'll let me...and then stealing a few extra ones. I tell her that I love her whenever I think of it. She might get a little tired of hearing it, but today when I was pulling out of the driveway to run to the store I gave her the "I love you" sign and I could see her mouth back, "I love you so much!" Melts my heart!
Here are some pictures to show you Ashlyn's hospital stay and how quickly she rebounded :)

In the ER...still really scared.

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see the patekei (sounds like pa-tee-key-eye), or little red dots around her eyes. I noticed them shortly after the incident and mentioned them to the paramedics. They laughed! At first I thought that was rude, but then one asked me how I knew what they were called. I told her that Maguire had been born with it all over his face, but that first and foremost I knew about it from CSI :) They thought that was pretty funny!

Ashlyn watching Dora in my bed the next morning. She and I had breakfast together in my bed. She was thrilled when she found out it was Fruit Loops with milk ("with milk" is important to her! That's what differentiates it from just being a snack of dry cereal) and pancakes.

Ashlyn showing off her "wires". These wires, along with a pulse/ox monitor around her toe, were attached to a monitor that gave her heart rate, oxygen levels and something else I can't remember. They did give me peace of mind throughout the night, but not much sleep! The monitor was meant for a baby and her heart rate would drop below the acceptable numbers, causing the alarm to go off. Her heart rate was completely normal for a 3-year-old, though. Eventually the nurse changed the settings...2.5 short hours before our breakfast came and woke us up. When it was time to leave the hospital, Ash didn't want to take the wires off because she was afraid it would hurt. The nurse said it was ok to leave them on since they weren't connected anymore and they'd just throw the wires away anyway. Ashlyn left those things on all day! She actually sort of wore them like a badge of honor. I kept trying to tuck them into her pants at least, but she wanted them to hang out. When we got home, she showed them off to her buddy Elizabeth across the street. She said, "look at my wires!" and told her that they helped make her feel better.

A nurse pulled Ashlyn out to Grandpa and Grandma's van in a wagon. Ash thought that was great! Sort of like our wagon, there was another seat for her "hostable bear" (hospital bear) to sit in and a cup holder for her "hostable sippy cup". Can you tell it was a rough night for me?! LOL!

Nightmare

I debated whether or not to post this, but I've decided that it's a huge thing in our lives and I'm going to want it chronicled in our blog. Besides that, let this be a cautionary story for any of you with children or grandchildren.
Yesterday Kyle, the kids and I packed up and headed to some friends' cottage in Holland. They were in town from Texas and we hadn't seen them in quite a while. We planned to spend the afternoon swimming in the pool. Just the day before I had taken the kids to Brittany's (my sister-in-law) parents' house to go swimming with Nate and Britt. It went great! Ashlyn was so confident in the water and just loved "swimming" (jumping to us, floating on rafts, etc.). So I was excited to go yesterday with Kyle.
Maguire, as before, would just get in on the top step and no further. Still, though, he kept running around the edge of the pool so we had to keep a close watch on him. Ashlyn was having a blast playing with Megan and Jurrien and floating in an inflatable ring, pulling herself along the edge. I don't quite remember the details here, but we were standing around the edge talking and Kyle saw Ashlyn at the bottom of the pool. I threw myself in to grab her and handed her off to Kyle, noticing first that she was purple. At that point I started to freak out. Kyle tried to whack her on her back over his knee but that didn't do anything--she was unresponsive. I yelled to him to do mouth-to-mouth. He gave about 4-5 rescue breaths and she finally turned and threw up. In the meantime our friend was calling 911 and I was screaming. Kyle picked her up and carried her away from the pool as she continued to throw up. The first words I heard her say were "I can't talk!" We figured out that she meant she couldn't talk when she was underwater. As good as we can figure, she was under for about a minute, probably less. But enough to cause her to be unconscious and turn blue. Every parent's nightmare had just happened to us. I will never be able to erase the sight of my baby girl at the bottom of the pool or her blue face as Kyle breathed life back into her.
The paramedics came and checked her out. By then she had regained her color and was answering some questions, but she was quite obviously very scared and a bit lethargic. They said she looked ok, but the main concern was "dry drowning", or delayed symptoms, at that point. They suggested we take her to the hospital to get checked out and to get a chest X-ray. With Jennifer and her mom Jan's great help and support, we quickly changed out of our swimsuits and headed to the hospital. Kyle dropped Ashlyn and me off at the ER entrance and then took Maguire to meet up with his sister, Heather, so she could watch Mac. I'll spare you the rest of the "boring" details here, but Kyle joined back up with us, we got her chest X-rayed, she vomitted some more and then fainted (which scared me even more) in Kyle's arms. They decided to keep her because the X-ray showed some swelling in her lungs. Any delayed symptoms should present themselves within the first 4-7 hours. It was already 7pm at that point so we opted to stay the night. Kyle went to get Maguire and bring him home (45 minutes away) while I stayed with Ash. A huge blessing then, was that Heather could come to the hospital to bring me dinner, some clothes to sleep in and some for today, along with PJs and extra undies and clothes for Ashlyn. She stayed with me for over an hour--a huge blessing as she helped me process things through, cry, vent, laugh and talk about things totally unrelated. Thank you so much, Heather! You were a true Godsend to me last night!
Once the nurses got Ashlyn set up in the same cage-like crib Maguire had been in (thank goodness Ash got somewhat used to it then!) with the proper moniters on (something *I* needed more than anybody else), she fell asleep. She slept pretty well--unlike me--and they released us this morning around 10:30.
I am so grateful to GOD for keeping his protective hand on my child. Excuse me, HIS child! I know she's His child, on loan to Kyle and me. Her days are numbered by Him alone. Still, though...it's so hard for me to give up that control. I want with everything in me to trust Him with my babies, but then, just as much, everything in me wants to hold on for dear life.
Ashlyn's home now and mostly back to her old self. I don't know that Kyle or I will be back to our old selves any time soon. It was like a kick in the gut to come back home and especially walk into Ashlyn's room. The "what if's" have a strong hold on me right now and a single piece of her clothing can throw me into a tailspin. Kyle and I are bound and determined to find purpose and good in this situation. What is God showing us? We're reevaluating things in our lives, our marriage. We're taking it as a wake up call that we cannot be too careful with our kids. They can kick and scream all they want, but they WILL be wearing lifejackets whenever we're around water. People might say that I share too much. Maybe I do. Sorry, that's just how I am. If I can help someone else through my mistakes--praise God!
On a lighter note--those of you who know how I can't let an "event" go by without documenting it on film (digital or otherwise), rest assured that I got a few pics :) Just a few with the paramedics once she was "out of the woods" and a few at the hospital. Am I a little crazy? Probably :) All I know is that I can't thank God enough for giving me another day with my kids and my husband...

Max's birthday - part 2

After Max's party Lee and Julie BEGGED us to stay the night at the cottage with them. Ok, so they just asked and it didn't take too much arm twisting to get us to cave ;) I mean, what more can you ask for--even though we didn't pack anything to stay, they've got extra PJs for Maguire, toothbrushes/ toothpaste/deoderant/etc for all of us, and we each get our own rooms!

That evening we headed down to the beach for a bit. The water was still pretty cold, but the kids had fun splashing around! Ash really enjoyed the playset on the beach, too.

It was so good to spend some more time with Lee, Julie, Max and Winton. We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like. I think I write that every time I post about them, but it's so true! We love you guys!

Ashlyn showing off that, yes, she is indeed potty trained--see the undies?

Three of my greatest earthly loves

Maguire and "Uncle Lee"

This slide was so steep!

Mac and Max!

Maguire, chillin' on the porch

Happy 1st Birthday Max!

Back in the middle of June we traveled to Pentwater to celebrate our good friends' son, Max's first birthday. Our friends Lee and Julie live in Chicago but have a beautiful "cottage" in Pentwater. We grilled out and the kids tried to break a pinata. It was a tough little pinata and didn't want to break! The bat actually broke first--LOL! Max was adorable at his party, although he didn't want to have much to do with the cake. Leave it to "Aunt Abby", though, to just force a finger-full of frosting into his reluctant little mouth. He liked it after that! We found out later that the poor little buddy was running a bit of a fever. All in all--a great party!

She did it, she did it, she did it--HOORAY!

After thinking that we were going to have to send Ashlyn to preschool in the fall wearing diapers (they don't require the kids to be potty trained), she *suddenly* flipped the switch and decided she was done with diapers on June 11! Our neighbors who have a daughter exactly one year older than Ash (they have the same birthday!) gave us this trick to try for night-time potty training: Have her go potty before bed. Go to bed in undies. Before you go to bed--midnight or whenever--wake her up and take her to the potty then put her right back down. Sometime very early in the morning wake her up again to take her to the potty and put her right back down. Wake up for the day. Once you've been doing that for a while accident-free, drop one of the wakings. It supposedly teaches her brain to wait until she's be woken up to go potty and if she doesn't get woken up, she doesn't go. This method worked perfectly with Ashlyn! She was actually night trained before she was day trained. Weird, huh? On June 11, before her nap she and I were having a "discussion" about her wearing her undies. She wanted to wear a diaper. If you know us at all, you know that Ashlyn and I are both very stubborn, so this "discussion" was going nowhere! She actually stalked out of the room, came back, threw the diaper at me and said "No more diapers! I'm going to give them to Maguire!" So she took all of her diapers out of her dresser and threw them outside his door. Then she took her diaper champ and "gave" that to him too. Since then she hasn't looked back! Now, I won't say she hasn't had accidents, but before then, if she had an accident she'd refuse to put panties back on. She would insist on a diaper to avoid any embarassment or accidents later on. Anyway, her buddy Elizabeth across the street got potty trained just a few weeks after Ashlyn. They compare underwear and have already started going to the bathroom together--hee hee! Kristi (Elizabeth's mom) and I are quite happy to be sending the girls to preschool in the fall wearing underwear :)